Federal Court Clears Path for Discovery in Investor Class Action
NEW YORK – On March 31, 2026, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York denied in part defendants’ motion to dismiss in Kempen International Funds, et al. v. Syneos Health, Inc., et al., No. 1:23-cv-08848 (S.D.N.Y.), clearing the way for discovery in the investor class action led by DiCello Levitt.
The Kempen case charges Syneos Health, Inc. and certain of its former senior executives with violations of the federal securities laws and alleges that defendants manipulated key performance metrics, including backlog and book-to-bill ratios, and misrepresented the company’s post-pandemic recovery in quarterly and annual SEC filings throughout a class period spanning September 9, 2020 to November 3, 2022. As the truth emerged through a series of disclosures, Syneos’s stock price suffered sharp declines, including a 46% drop in a single day in November 2022.
In sustaining the claims, the Court held that plaintiffs alleged with particularity that Syneos’s SEC filings contained false or misleading backlog figures, finding that plaintiffs plausibly alleged that defendants added hundreds of millions of dollars to reported backlog in violation of Syneos’s own stated methodology. On scienter, the Court found a strong inference of fraudulent intent based on unusual and suspicious insider stock sales, internal objections from high-level managers and business unit CFOs who warned the practices could amount to fraud, and the suspicious timing of all four individual defendants’ departures from the company. With the motion to dismiss largely denied, the case will now move into discovery.
“This ruling validates what we have alleged from the start: that Syneos’s leadership systematically inflated the company’s most important performance metrics while enriching themselves through stock sales at prices they knew were artificially high,” said San Diego Managing Partner Brian O’Mara. “We look forward to moving this case into discovery and proving these claims on behalf of our clients and the class.”
The DiCello Levitt attorneys leading the litigation include Henry Rosen, Brian O’Mara, Steve Jodlowski, Jarett Sena, Hani Farah, and Roxana Pierce. The case is Kempen International Funds, et al. v. Syneos Health, Inc., et al., No. 1:23-cv-08848 (S.D.N.Y.).
About DiCello Levitt
At DiCello Levitt, we’re dedicated to achieving justice for our clients through securities, class action, environmental, mass tort, financial services, antitrust, business-to-business, public client, whistleblower, and personal injury litigation. Our attorneys are highly respected for their ability to litigate and win cases—whether by trial, settlement, or otherwise—for people who have suffered harm, global corporations that have sustained significant economic losses, and public clients seeking to protect their citizens’ rights and interests. Every day, we put our reputations—and our capital—on the line for our clients.
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